What Are the Side Effects of Not Getting Enough Sleep?

Your body needs sleep because sleep is when the body heals itself and restores its chemical balance. If you don’t get enough sleep, your brain and body won’t function properly and your quality of life will suffer as a result. Chronic conditions can occur too, like heart disease. In 2010, a review found that poor sleep actually increases the risk of early death.

There are some superficial side effects of only somewhat poor sleep, such as excessive sleepiness, irritability, and daytime fatigue, but there are much more serious side effects of poor sleep over a long duration. Caffeine isn’t enough to counteract these serious side effects. In fact, it can actually make sleep deprivation and the side effects worse.

These side effects can include a compromised central nervous system, which can make it difficult for you to concentrate or remember new things, and it can also affect your coordination, emotional state, mood, decision-making processes, creativity, and more. Impulsive behavior, depression, and even suicidal thoughts can occur too. Microsleep can occur, and this is when people fall asleep randomly for seconds or minutes during the day, which can be very dangerous.

A weakened immune system is another side effect. As you sleep, the immune system produces infection-fighting substances to combat foreign invaders, like viruses. Some of these substances also help you sleep, which gives the immune system more energy. Poor sleep can affect these processes and make it difficult for your immune system to fight off invaders and recover from illness.

The digestive system, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, and respiratory system can also be compromised. An affected respiratory system can cause a breathing disorder called obstructive sleep apnea which can interrupt your sleep throughout the night. Here at Koala® Center For Sleep & TMJ Disorders, we can treat sleep apnea and other sleep disorders very effectively, so you should consider coming to see us about your sleep.

A sleep disorder requires professional treatment, and this is what we provide here at our clinic. Oral appliance therapy can help many patients with sleep apnea. The treatment is easy, using a simple, custom-made oral appliance to prevent the causes of sleep apnea in the first place. Also, TMJ (jaw joint) disorder can affect sleep and be relieved with oral appliance therapy too. We can help with other various sleep disorders as well.

If you’d like to learn more about sleep or have a consultation with us to evaluate your sleep, then come see us here at Koala® Center For Sleep & TMJ Disorders. We have multiple locations throughout the U.S. in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin. You can give our headquarters a call for any reason. Alternatively, you can book a consultation with us online from our Appointments page.

Get in touch with us today so we can help you gain the many benefits that come with good quality sleep.